For the past two seasons, Terps coach Dave Cottle has stuck with his practice of rotating senior Jason Carter and junior Brian Phipps in the cage. If Carter starts, Phipps plays the second half and then the pattern is repeated except that Phipps starts and Carter finishes. There is, however, the understanding that if the first-half goalkeeper is playing well, the coaches reserve the right to allow him to finish.

With Maryland (10-6) getting ready to play No. 2 seed and reigning national champion Syracuse (13-2) in a NCAA tournament quarterfinal at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., on Saturday at noon, Cottle hinted Tuesday that he may stick with Phipps and start him for the third consecutive game.

"We’ve been impressed with the way Brian has played the last couple of weeks," said a clearly pained Cottle. "I love both goalies. It’ll be a game-time decision, but it’ll be hard not to play Brian."

The numbers seem to bear out Phipps starting over Carter. Although the duo each has five wins and Carter has two fewer losses, Phipps has a better save percentage (.593 to Carter’s .495) and goals-against average (7.13 to Carter’s 7.54).

Although the 6-foot-1, 215-pound Carter is the more physically imposing goalkeeper, the 5-9, 180-pound Phipps has collected 25 groundballs to Carter’s 17 and is adept at kick-starting the Terps’ clearing game.